Re: [Matplotlib-users] matplotlib user interface issues

[John H. <jdh...@ac...>]

>>>>> "Gregory" == Gregory Lielens <gre...@ff...> writes:

    Gregory> I though that calling draw() would update the active
    Gregory> figure without starting the mainloop already, or am I
    Gregory> confused? Alternatively, in the fltk backend, I have
    Gregory> allowed calling show() multiple times, it just check
    Gregory> before running the mainloop that it is not already
    Gregory> running...Maybe this is also feasible in a more general
    Gregory> way?

The matlab interface draw function does not need the renderer passed
as an arg (the FigureCanvas.draw method does) and it is intended for
interactive use when you want to force a redraw

  >>> o = title('blah')
  >>> o.set_fontsize(12)         # no draw
  >>> o.set_fontstyle('italic')  # no draw
  >>> draw()                     # draw

Perry and I discussed trying to come up with some python magic such
that calls to setattr on an artist would trigger a call to
the matlab interface draw_if_interactive.  This would have to be done
carefully, because some users will explicitly not want to force a
redraw on any call to a setter since drawing is potentially an
expensive operation.  True, they could temporarily turn interaction
off, but I think any solution here would need to be optional.

JDH